Western Caribbean (November, 2011) — 6 day Western Caribbean cruise (Ft. Lauderdale roundtrip), aboard RCI’s Navigator of the Seas.

Of course, I’m still sadly eight trips behind… some from as long ago as 2008 (including our first voyage on Navigator). The good news is that I have most of the rest of 2010’s and 2011’s photos ready for posting soon. So, I’m hoping to get more caught-up this holiday season (yeah, right).

All in all, it’s been an enjoyable trip. I’m not even going to promise a full cruise review or a quick posting of pictures (neither of which I seem capable of producing). I will however take this chance to write up a few final thoughts…

First, I’m surprised that I enjoyed the ports in almost exactly the reverse order of what I expected, favoring Labadee for its family fun and thinking Grand Cayman the least interesting. The lesson? Much like we found in St. Thomas, the Caribbean isn’t really at its best in towns filled with duty free shopping and little else.

Second, while traveling with a toddler is becoming increasingly easier, it’s still an effort and not always fun (or at least as care free). But, it is also uniquely rewarding and enjoyable in a different way. I’m also proud that Emerson’s country count already reaches 21 (one for every month she’s been alive)! I wonder if a new goal should be 157 for Emerson by the time she’s 18?

Third and finally, not knowing what life ever has in store, I wish to pause and simply reflect on my good fortune in being able to experience all that I have in my (come Dec 4) 35 years on this planet. Sometimes, I think I spend too much time thinking/planning/worrying about the future. In pausing to look over my shoulder, I’m grateful for my past experiences, both large and small. I’m also thankful for the life I lead that’s populated with a family and friends who are better than I deserve.

On that note, I’ll stop writing and start watching the sunset before me…

It’s becoming something of a tradition for us to spend Thanksgiving in some far flung locale, usually the Caribbean. With Libby’s school schedule and the vacation day savings for me, it’s a very efficient way to add a few more countries. Thus, we found ourselves in Labadee, Haiti this Thanksgiving.

For those that don’t know, Labadee is Royal Caribbean’s private beach destination, which is located on a peninsula on the northern coast of Haiti. The fact that it’s based in Haiti isn’t generally a “selling point” of RCI. Indeed, I suspect that a good number of passengers don’t even realize they’re in Haiti. Following the massive earthquake that rocked the country, RCI took some heat for continuing to visit Labadee immediately on the heals of the disaster. In truth, RCI’s continued presence brought some needed supplies, helped to bolster at least the local economy, and didn’t disrupt aid operations in any way. So, while it might seem unpalatable to eat burgers and bask in the sun while bodies rot under rubble a hundred miles away, it’s really just a more intense version of a daily reality: cruise ships regularly bring relatively privileged, wealthy people to places that either supply meagerly paid ship workers and/or have populations that live in varying degrees of poverty and misery. On balance, this is probably neither an entirely good or bad thing. But, on this Thanksgiving Day, I do think it’s important to remember those less fortunate and to take account of our own blessings.

As a beach destination, Labadee is actually very nice. The weather and water were perfect — not too hot, not too cold. Likewise, the scenery was beautiful with a mountainous backdrop, sheltered cove, and blue-green waters. This was Emerson’s first trip to the beach (ironic as we live in Florida, I know). She played in the sand with a bucket and shovel, and I took her into the water to collect rocks and seashells. Meanwhile, Mom took pictures (surprising? I think not), and Pop sat in a lounge chair under a palm tree (good for him at 87!). The facilities/infrastructure at Labadee are also wonderful. In general, I’m suspect of both beach days and private cruise ship destinations, but I really couldn’t help having a good time. This was just an excellent day!

Dinner–our second and final formal night–was in the main dining room. Service was much better this evening, and the Thanksgiving spread was both traditional and credible. Unfortunately, the ship made minimal effort to decorate for the holiday, unlike our prior Thanksgiving aboard Navigator in 2008. Once again this underscores my feeling that the service quality aboard Navigator is sort of middling at best.

Vintages, the ship’s wine bar, was running an excellent deal on a Barbera d’ Asti at $22 per bottle. I bought one for the family’s Thanksgiving dinner. And, I might do it again tomorrow night.

Today’s box score: +1 country

This brings our total to 54, having tacked on 20 in 2011!

We skipped the duty free shops and headed straight for independent taxis. There we met Uriah, who we negotiated with to be our guide/driver. For $104, he agreed to provide us with a private, roundtrip tour to Montego Bay. With our agreement reached, we left the sanctuary of the sterilized port and departed into the ‘real’ Falmouth.

We drove through a vibrant, albeit somewhat gritty, Falmouth and then headed west along the coast. I was impressed by the relative quality of the infrastructure and the attractiveness of the water. The coast between Falmouth and Mo-Bay was dotted with resorts and golf courses. We paid a visit to White Witch, a spectacular hillside golf course near Rose Hall, named after the owner of the sugar plantation–a white, female slaveholder who (you guessed it) practiced witchcraft and had a certain penchant for marrying (and then murdering) her male slaves.

Montego Bay–Jamaica’s 2nd largest city and another cruise port–was also bustling on this weekday. I can’t say it made a significant impression… like much of the Caribbean, it’s the landscape of a city painted with the brush of poverty’s inevitable decay on top of a canvas of natural, scenic splendor. This, of course, excludes the tourist confections of Sandal’s resorts, Margaritaville, and the like.

On our way back to Falmouth, Uriah took us to visit the villages of Martha Brae and Hague. This is where he grew up and still lives. We saw the school attended by his six year old son, the river he played in as a boy, the local agricultural fairgrounds, and his neighborhood. He was clearly proud of his community–this was my favorite part of the tour.

We returned to the Falmouth port and spent a little time exploring the ‘village’ and gawking at Allure of the Seas (the behemoth of RCI’s fleet). We ate a “Jamaican Beef Pattie”– a sort of Cornish pasty with a jerk beef filling–sold by a local vendor. It was excellent. We also stopped into some of the duty free shops. Not surprisingly, the prices weren’t very good. I’d recommend passing on shopping in Falmouth.

For dinner, Libby and I went to Chops Grille, leaving Emerson in the care of her grandparents for the evening. As usual Chops was good, though sadly they’ve removed Libby’s favorite entree from the menu (a BBQ braised pork shank). I started with the shrimp cocktail, followed by cheese and onion soup, and a “not-so-traditional” Caesar salad (which seemed fairly traditional and a bit boring to me). Libby had a crab and shrimp cake, as well as the soup. For our main, I had a 10oz filet, and Libby opted for the braised short ribs. These were accompanied by a variety of sides of which the parmesan and prosciutto potatoes were real standouts. We finished with creme brûlée (me — a somewhat poor performance that was slightly runny and not even topped with crisp sugar) and red velvet cake (Libby — a very respectable offering). For my part, while I enjoyed the ‘night off’ and togetherness time, I’m not sure that the meal itself was really worth the $30/pp cover charge.

Later that evening, Mom and I attended the performance in the theatre. It was some mediocre magician/comedian and a mild diversion at best. Worth the price of admission (free).

Today’s box score: +1 country (Jamaica)

The port facility and Allure of the Seas in Falmouth:

Following breakfast, we walked around the upper decks watching Emerson frolic aboard the ship. We then headed to the kids club to pick up a bag of loaner toys (a fairly paltry selection compared to what was on offer on Celebrity Infinity). Libby and Emerson then went to the open play time with Mimi. And, I did pretty much nothing.

After playtime, we had a light lunch and then I returned to the cabin with Emerson for her daily nap. I read and finished watching a movie on the iPad while she slept for nearly two hours. Nap time over, Libby returned and took Emerson off to a Crayola Beginnings class, which was followed by open playtime. Meanwhile, I went off in search of a wheat beer (found a Leffe at the Two Poets Pub) and a quite spot to read (finding none, I opted for our cabin’s balcony).

Emerson and Libby returned to the cabin around 4pm — the former covered in marker stains; the latter blissfully unaware/unconcerned. We spent the next hour or so out on the balcony of either our cabin or with Mom and Pop next door.

Tonight was formal night in the main dining room, and we managed to get all dolled up (cruises out of Florida are generally my one exception to the ‘no formal night’ rule). Once again, dinner was very good. Emerson are two bowls of guacamole and also had half of my escargot (to the amusement of her grandparents and great-grandfather)! She continued to be very well behaved… lasting the full 2 hours with minimal fuss. Everyone else seemed to enjoy their meals too — uniformly good to very good.

Following dinner, we briefly strolled through the Captain’s Gala party (in search of nighttime milk for Emerson). She enjoyed the music, lights, and disco ball effects on the Royal Promenade. After we returned to our cabin, I went back to the party to nab a glass of free champagne (ok, technically cheap sparkling wine–but free alcohol of any kind is a rare treat aboard a ship). Unfortunately, my consumption of it was promptly foiled upon returning to the cabin as Libby managed to hit me with the bathroom door, thereby sending the contents of the champagne flute down my dress shirt and trousers. And so ended our ‘relaxing’ day at sea.

Thanks to Pop’s needing wheelchair assistance we sped through security and check-in. However, we were forced to wait (along with others) for over an hour before boarding the ship. You see, RCI seems to now require a change of wheelchair / staff to assist passengers onto the actual ship. As such, a queue formed of passengers waiting for the only two assistant-waiters-turned-wheelchair-jockeys (one lazy and the other lazier still) to assist them aboard the ship. Totally unacceptable treatment of elderly and/or disabled passengers. I’m also starting to think that Port Everglades just sucks as I’ve now had both my worst embarkation and disembarkation (on a Nov 2009 cruise aboard Navigator) experiences at this port.

After finally(!) boarding the ship, we headed to lunch (at 2:00). Since dinner was in only a couple of hours, we all ate very light. After lunch, we moved into our cabins (three balconies in a row on Deck 7), unpacked, went to the muster drill, and dressed for dinner.

Our table in the MDR is on the middle tier (of a three story room) and in the far back corner. It has lots of room around it and is somewhat isolated from the other patrons. In short: ideal. In the interest of brevity, I went mention what everyone ate–I’ll just say that the meal seemed to be universally enjoyed by the family and of pretty high quality for a mass market cruise ship’s MDR. Emerson–as on Vision of the Seas this past summer–was a dream. She ate her ‘mole’ with gusto and despite the usual chaos of the first night amused herself for nearly two hours. Bravo!

It’s good to be back aboard Navigator. She remains the most architecturally impressive ship I’ve sailed upon. And, she might be a contender for being my favorite. But, she also feels perhaps a wee bit crowded.

Tomorrow’s our first day at sea.

As usual, I plan to blog along the way.